Star Trek: Potter
by BKL8008
Summary: Captain James T. Potter takes command of the USS Enterprise 1701-A in the 23rd century. Again with the Klingons...
1. Chapter 1-Captain on the Bridge

**Potter-Trek****  
****Episode 1: First Command****  
Spacedock, Earth  
United Federation of Planets, Sector 001  
2293 AD, old calendar**  
**Stardate 9800.0 – Late 23****rd**** Century  
Shortly after the events of ****Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country**

What was the old saying?

"Turn out the lights, the party's over!"

Was that it? And the other?

"The captain goes down with his ship."

In this case, the USS _Enterprise_, NCC 1701-A, had not gone down. And James Tiberius Kirk had not gone down with her. No, his beauty was to be decommissioned, relegated to a glorified parking spot in spacedock above Earth. She would become a museum, a training vessel, a keepsake – just as her predecessor of a sister ship had been slated to become before she'd given her life to save theirs at the Genesis Planet in the Mutara Sector.

He thought back to history. He thought of the ancient steamships RMS _Titanic_ and the _Olympic_. But no, it was more than that. _Titanic_ had been totally lost, as he thought his beloved _Enterprise _had been. Like Olympic, the Enterprise-A had simply been a replacement. A replacement, until the salvage and recon crews had reported finding tiny bits of debris in the Mutara Sector. Then they'd delivered that one sacred piece, and this ship had become more than a sister. This ship had become home. Again.

They'd found the dedication plaque of the original _Enterprise - To boldly go where no man has gone before. _Impossibly, perhaps magically, he thought, Mr. Scott had at some point coated it in neutronium – and told no one.

As Robert April had done. As Christopher Pike had done. As he had done.

But as no captain would do again.

He supposed if there were an emergency, that the Enterprise might be dispatched to assist. But as far as exploring the galaxy, those five-year missions were certainly over. New crews in new ships would do that now.

There was no one on the bridge. The lights were low. Engineering was dark, the warp core silent and cooling. It would take hours to restart her. Kirk had to smile. No, Montgomery Scott could restart a cold warp core in minutes if he had to. He'd done it at Planet Psi-2000._ If it can't be done, just ask Scotty, _he thought._ Our magical miracle worker._

There _was_ someone on the bridge, however. As Kirk looked around, he saw that it was crowded. Ghosts. Not the silvery, floating ghosts that one imagined in a Halloween story, no. These were the ghosts of his memory. Ghosts of the past, come to bid farewell to their captain, their confessor, their friend…and their ship.

Spock and McCoy were behind his command chair, arguing. McCoy thought he was winning. The emotionless Vulcan was looking smug, one eyebrow raised. Mr. Scott was at his engineering station, shouting at him, "I'm givin' her all she's got, sir!" Mr. Sulu's hands were dancing over his controls, maneuvering the ship away from danger as Mr. Chekov (so young) was attributing something to Mother Russia that someone else had done. Nyota Uhura was opening a hailing frequency, and there was that soft whistle. Janice Rand brought him coffee.

He stood, his fingers tracing along the arm of his chair one last time.

"Permission to disembark," he whispered, turning to go.

Not even the computer answered him as he touched the plaque that had survived even the destruction of a planet that had taken his beloved son with it.

The chirp of a communicator.

He felt old.

"Beam me down, Scotty," Captain James T. Kirk said.

And then the bridge of the USS _Enterprise _sat empty.

Three months later

"Admiral, we're receiving a distress call!" The young ensign called out, her comm board lighting up in red. "Outpost 4 along the Klingon Neutral Zone reports they are under attack!" She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, on her feet and moving with a stylus to the holographic board nearby to plot the location of the nearest starship.

"What is the closest heavy cruiser?" Admiral Archer demanded, pushing aside the padd where he'd been browsing old images of his father's first ship.

"The nearest in range is _Farragut-A,_ but she's a week away at maximum warp!" The Ensign reported. "Incoming transmission, sir! Long range sensor drones near the border have detected another Klingon vessel closing on those coordinates!"

"Did anyone bother to tell them that we're having peace talks at Camp Khitomer?" The Admiral growled, slamming his fist on the desk. "Dammit! We've worked too hard for this! They've got to be renegades!"

"Sir, there are over fifty-thousand Federation citizens on the outposts along the Zone…" she began.

"I KNOW THAT!" Archer snapped. "Get me someone in personnel. We need a starship captain, and we need one _now_! Cancel all shore leave, and recall all available crewmen. And track down Montgomery Scott and have him prepare the _Enterprise _for immediate departure!"

"Sir? The _Enterprise_ has been sitting for three months! You're going to send a _museum _ship to intercept the Klingons?" She gasped.

"Just as soon as Mr. Scott can get her running again," Archer nodded. "Get me Chancellor Azetbur on subspace, and find us a crew!"

"Sir!" The Ensign added, and Archer nodded.

Later that evening, local time

Within hours, a miracle was taking place. Once a very disgruntled Montgomery Scott had been unceremoniously beamed away from his favorite tavern, _**The Hog's Head Pub**_, it had taken him only minutes to bring the ship back to life. "Aye, yeh may not be me ol' lass, but yeh've got her spirit!" Scotty told the throbbing impulse engine, as all throughout the quiet ship, lights came on and transporters came to life. "But do yeh have ter do it so loud?" He sighed, rubbing his aching head. "Och! I've gotta quit drinkin'," he swore for probably the millionth time in his life.

"Scott to Control, I've got the warp core prepped for cold start. I'll need a top pilot to plot a course outta the solar system, even if they are still in balance!"

"Don't tell me, I don't want to know," Archer replied. "I make it a point to avoid discussing the magic and miracles happening on that ship, Mr. Scott. If you can save those remaining outposts, and what's left of the peace talks, then by all means, do so. We're sending your new captain up now. We, ahhh, don't seem to think it's a good idea to send Kirk on this one. Besides, it was hard enough dragging him out of there three months ago, and he's lost somewhere in Yellowstone, anyway."

"Aye," Scott sniffed, knowing that Jim Kirk wouldn't have taken his communicator along on his first big trip after retirement. Somehow it just didn't seem right having a different captain at the helm of this ship. "And a green one at that," he told himself, as his engineering staff arrived and promptly began fussing over controls. Many of them looked quite nervous at the idea of going from zero to somewhere around unimaginable speed in seconds.

One of the new midshipmen, a small jumpy fellow, could have sworn that he saw Scott put a long piece of wood in his pocket.

The last crew members had just been beamed aboard as Scotty brought the navigational deflector online. _Enterprise's_ running lights came on, and her warp nacelles began to glow softly blue as her warp coils began heating. On Deck A, the bridge, lights snapped on as the turbolift doors popped open and crew members scampered to their stations.

"Engineering reporting ready, confirmed, sir, engine/navigation relays in synch," the helmsman reported, his skin a light blue and his antennas waving atop his white hair as he studied his controls. For an Andorian, he looked quite young.

"Weapons and shields charging, navigational deflector online," the navigator announced, his slightly longer than Human fingers of an Alpha Centaurian laying in course plots. "Course plotted to Klingon Neutral Zone!"

"Sensors online," a cool voice reported from the science station.

"Mr. Serok, can you verify gain control on communications relays?" The human woman at the communications stations asked of the Vulcan Science Officer.

"I shall, and I have, Lt. Miyagi," Serok replied, going over his console. "Your channels should be free of static now."

The turbolift doors whooshed open.

"CAPTAIN ON THE BRIDGE!" Serok called out, as backup personnel ran to other auxiliary stations.

"Mr. Serok!" He greeted the Vulcan.

"You're late, sir," Serok pointed out.

_Vulcans, Goblins, what's the difference? Vulcans don't care about gold, _the captain thought.

"_Thank_ you! As you were! REPORT!" The new captain of the _Enterprise_ barked, running a hand through his messy and almost non-regulation black hair that stood up in the back. As he moved to take the center seat, the bridge lights hit it just right, turning it almost auburn in the highlights and revealing his slight case of freckles. He adjusted his glasses.

"Course laid in and ready to intercept the Klingons, sir!" The helmsman reported. "All speeds available at your command!"

"Thank you, Mr…?"

"Shrann, sir," the Andorian replied.

The captain couldn't help but think that he looked like an overgrown Cornish Pixie as he settled into the famous chair that had, for so long, been occupied by another Captain. He buttoned his tunic, hiding the white front and the green and silver pin of a serpent that augmented his rank and decorations.

"Clear all moorings, disengage umbilical. Request permission to depart!" The captain barked.

"He wears glasses?" Shrann asked his partner at the forward seats.

"He's allergic to Retinax VI," Tauros the Centaurian answered. "Besides, _you_ have horns!" He joked.

"They're _antennas_, and _you _smell!" Shrann grinned at him.

"Centaurians are 'earthy'," Tauros smiled.

"Incoming message from Admiral Archer, sir," Miyagi spoke up.

"On screen!"

The forward viewer snapped on to reveal Archer with a bustling command center in the background. "Give my best to the Klingons, Jim!"

"AGAIN with the Klingons," the Captain rolled his eyes.

Several decks down in Sickbay, Cmdr. Dianthus Pomfrey, (she preferred 'Diana') Chief Medical Officer, was getting things in order. She knew the captain well, having gone through school and Starfleet Academy with him. If there was one thing that she could count on, it was the fact there were going to be casualties once they hit the Neutral Zone.

"_Full _impulse power, then take us to full-emergency warp speed once we've cleared Spacedock," the captain ordered.

Several bridge officers, with the exception of Serok, shivered. It was bad enough going to warp one inside a solar system, especially on engines that had been sitting cold for so long. One minor fluctuation, and the ship could fall into an artificial wormhole and emerge on the other side of the galaxy in the middle of last week!

"Thrusters only while in spacedock," Shrann whispered, as the _Enterprise_ jumped forward. She was out the doors in under a second, and chasing the speed of light as they banked to avoid the moon and a few startled transport pod pilots.

"That was fun," Tauros offered.

"WARP SPEED!" The captain exclaimed, and the USS _Enterprise_ vanished into a blur of rainbow colored light.

"Warp two, warp three, warp four," Mr. Scott's voice called out over the intercom, mixing with the whine of the engines as they collided matter and antimatter to propel the ship, "No sign of imbalance! Watch that plasma wave-guide, will yeh, yeh bleedin' green…och! Warp seven, eight, nine," he called out without pause, "Hold on tight, laddies, it gets _bumpy_ from here!"

"Mind the Oort Cloud, Mr. Tauros," the captain commented.

Mr. Scott then dropped a chip into his main data console, and the specifications for structural integrity field support that had been written up by the Kelvins from the Andromeda Galaxy so long ago came online. It was one of his most closely guarded secrets, as to how one could push a Constitution Class starship to such speeds without flying her apart. That, and he still remembered all the tips that the Kelvins had given him so long ago. The lights went dim. "Warp nine-point-five, -six, -seven, -eight," He continued to count, reading from the velocity scale that had since been recalculated to show that Warp Ten was infinite, and therefore, unattainable speed. "Captain, tha's all she's got!" Scott called.

"Cruising at Warp 15, old scale, sir," Tauros reported, as the shivering of the ship subsided.

"Captain, engineering reports that we can maintain this speed for just over one solar day," Serok reported, "Although I cannot explain how Mr. Scott does it. Theoretically, we should have shed our warp nacelles somewhere around warp nine-point-six. The Klingons will certainly not expect us, and will be taken completely by surprise, as their sensors will not be able to see us coming."

"Time to intercept?"

"One-point-two-five solar days."

"Thank you, Mr. Serok," the captain replied. "Take the conn, would you? I want to speak with Mr. Scott."

"Aye, sir."

He stopped at the lift doors. "It's magic, Serok!"

"That is _highly_ illogical, sir!"

And with that, Captain James T. Potter of the starship _Enterprise_ left the bridge.

The Magical Community had largely been unaffected by Muggle doings since the fall of Lord Voldemort in 1998. They had even been able to use magic to shield themselves from the Eugenics Wars, World War III, and the other various squabbles that seemed to break out from time to time. Then, on April 5, 2063, Zephram Cochrane had broken the warp barrier, establishing first contact with the Vulcans. For the first time in history, other than those like Arthur Weasley who were fascinated with Muggle devices and how they got along without magic, magical students of Hogwarts and other academies around the planet Earth began expressing a desire to leave and explore something unbelievable.  
Space.

Before, they had only been able to see it with telescopes and study it from an astrological viewpoint as it related to magic. But now, thanks to Muggle and even alien technology, these magical graduates of Hogwarts could travel into space – to other worlds. Yes, they were no longer alone in the Universe.

There was life out there. A lot of it.

And so it was that Wizards and Witches had begun to venture out, and when Starfleet had been formed, the _Enterprise_ NX-01 launched, and Starfleet Academy opened, they had gone there.

There were a few surprises awaiting them, of course. The foremost was that magic tended to be wilder and required more focus in space. This made sense, as Astrology dealt with the positions of the stars and planets. It was hard to predict how magic would work in, say, the Vulcan solar system. Those afflicted by lycanthropy, the werewolves, were all about going to the Academy. This was mainly because once they got out of Earth's solar system, well away from its moon, they stopped changing into wolves once a month.

They also discovered that given the nature of Space/Time, it was possible to "rewind time" and alter the past, thus altering the future or seeing the past. Parallel timelines were also discovered to exist, thus verifying an ancient story from the early 2000's as told by one Albus Severus Potter and his friend Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. The two intrepid young Slytherin Firsties had told a fantastic tale of jumping into alternate realities, but no one had ever been able to prove it – until the discovery of the "Dark Mirror Universe".

For the magical community, time travel had largely been forgotten once the first Harry Potter had destroyed the Office for the Study of Time at the Ministry of Magic during his Fifth Year at Hogwarts. Captain Potter, however, had never mentioned his own theories on the formation of the Dark Mirror Alternate Universe. In fact, the Potter family had known of its existence long before Captain Kirk had ever discovered it.

Besides, with as complex of a machine as a starship, it certainly didn't hurt to have a handy Reparo Charm now and then. Breaching warp cores were, after all, messy business.

Still, the Statutes of Secrecy were kept in place, and no magical Starfleet officer ever revealed himself.

"Mr. Scott, you old scalawag!" Captain Potter greeted him in engineering. "You received my offer, I see?"

"Aye, I'd not be here if ol' Aldebaran Dumbledore at the pub hadn't had that case of 2012 scotch waitin' fer me!" He smiled.

Captain Potter laughed. "And Jim Kirk never knew?"

"Och, no!" Scotty laughed as well, "He jus' thought o'me as his miracle worker!"

"You made the adjustments to the bridge circuitry as I asked?" Potter wondered.

Scotty nodded. "She's all ready fer yeh."

"Mr. Serok is quite upset by your modifications to the engines," Potter went on.

"Well, they don't have magic on Vulcan, now, do they?" Scott reminded him. "Logical lot as they are?"

"They'd make the ultimate Ravenclaws, wouldn't they?"

"Aye," Scotty agreed. "Still, it feels all wrong ter be here, while Jim's not."

"Jim Kirk isn't going to live to be nearly two hundred years old, either!" They both laughed again. Then Potter turned serious. "I'll try not to ruin the repair job you did on her on the way home from Khitomer the first time, Mr. Scott," he promised.

Captain James T. Potter had hardly believed it when Admiral Jonathan Archer II had contacted him about a first command. After his tour of duty on the USS _London_, James had taken a leave with his best mate and cousin, Gideon Weasley. They had gone through Hogwarts and the Academy together, but while James had pursued the command track, Gideon had gone into starship operations. After all, Gideon had always said, someone had to hold the bloody ships together while the captains were busy getting them shot up.

But his orders had come only weeks into their leave. They were exploring the ruins of Mars, long suspected by the Wizarding World to be ancient evidence of a lost civilization on the desolate red planet. Of course, it did free up their bodies to not have to wear environmental suits, as Bubblehead and Warming Charms were all they needed. They just had to make sure that no one saw them! Memory Charms were also used in abundance in Starfleet those days.

Much to Gideon's chagrin, an engineer had not been needed for this mission. He'd gone back to the Burrow, largely unchanged even after almost three hundred years, and had scheduled a series of lectures on space travel for the students of Hogwarts.

But James was being sent to command the _Enterprise_, former flagship of the Federation. 452 lives would be his responsibility. There were less than a dozen of the Constitution Class vessels left in service, too, and they were being replaced by Excelsior Class ships as fast as Utopia Planetia above Mars could build them. Come to think of it, James recalled, there had only been a dozen of them commissioned to begin with 'back in the day'. He tried to remember his family's complex genealogy, wondering just which Harry or James or Albus had been alive when the original _Enterprise _had launched under the command of Robert April.

2245 AD, old date.

That was 247 years after the fall of Voldemort, which was still a banner date in the Wizarding World.

He tried to remember it. Finally he gave up. "Computer, which Potter was the family patriarch on that date?" He asked it.

"WORKING," the computer replied. "Colin T. 'Teddy' Potter III. There have been 4 Potter offspring to bear the name…"

"Stop," James laughed. If there was one thing that the Potters were known for, it was name continuity. He made a vow that if he ever had a son, he'd name him something totally offwordly and alien, like 'De'Orian'. No, that was too much like "Orion", and the Malfoys' side of the Weasley family had already had a plethora of star names, anyhow. He thought of his bridge crew. "Shrann," he mumbled, "Now there's a good solid Andorian name!" Maybe he'd find a nice Andorian girl and just settle down when this was all over? Wouldn't that just make Hogwarts crazy, having a pale blue student with antennae? "Definitely not a Slytherin candidate," he had to laugh, unbuttoning his tunic again to touch the little non-regulation snake insignia beneath his captain's bars.

"Ahhh, the dream of stars – again!" The battered old Sorting Hat was telling him. "I see we never lose the love of the name 'James'?"

_The rather scruffy little Firstie beneath the Hat laughed._

"_It's impossible to keep all you Weasley/Potters straight," it commented, "Over the last three hundred years, you lot have filled all the four Houses. Tell me, is there another Albus coming soon?"_

"_Next year!" James Thomas Potter laughed again._

"_I see! Well, your family has had everything from accountants to werewolves to Veelas, so I supposed a starship captain would be the next logical step? Drive and ambition is what it takes, boy! __**SLYTHERIN**__!"_

The rest of the day was uneventful. The Enterprise cruised towards the Neutral Zone, while the distress calls from various outposts continued to come in. Potter studied the schematics for the updated D-7 cruisers that he knew were awaiting him, planning his attack strategy. Their long necks were vulnerable, but even with their forward "heads" cut off, they were still dangerous – like snakes. And Klingons didn't surrender. It violated their honor, Potter knew. The only way that this fight would end would be in the destruction of the Klingon vessels. "But if that's what they want, that's what they'll get," he muttered. "Hmmm, Klingon women?" He mused. Wouldn't that just make the Sorting Hat crazy? He had to wonder if a such a hybrid child would be magical.

"Coming up on Neutral Zone," Shrann reported.

"RED ALERT!" Potter snapped, and the klaxons began to wail. The bridge lights dropped a bit, control panels brightened, and the sound of the ship changed. "Shields up! Ready phasers, load torpedo bays!"_ Steady, old boy, this isn't the Dueling Club,_ Potter reminded himself.

"Sensors report Outpost One completely destroyed," Serok reported, as the ship cruised on. "Outpost Two destroyed as well."

"Five thousand people," Miyagi whispered.

"Anything on subspace, Lieutenant?" Potter asked.

"Nothing but jamming static, sir!"

"Figures," Potter muttered. "Mr. Serok, anything on sensors, like, oh, maybe some Klingon warships?"

"Negative, but given the advancements in cloaking technology, it will be extremely difficult to detect them, Captain. Even the redesigned McCoy/Spock heat seeking torpedoes may have difficulty finding them."

"So they've gotten wind of that one, and compensated for it?"

"I believe I just said that, sir?" Serok raised an eyebrow.

_Well, they won't be expecting this_, Potter thought, as he made sure that no one was looking. He pulled his wand, holly as was the norm for a Potter, and flipped up a specialized panel on his command chair. He slid the wand down into it. There was a tingle in his hand as the wand recognized the magical circuitry that Mr. Scott had designed. "Revello," the Captain whispered.

"Sensor contact with one object, possibly a ship, moving at high impulse towards us," Serok pointed out.

"Changing course, 2-0-7-mark 3!" Tauros informed them.

"Locking phasers," Shrann added.

The third outpost came into view. "Magnify!" Potter ordered, as on the screen, Outpost Three was burning. "Survivors?"

"Life signs positive," Serok noted. "However, if we lower shields to transport them aboard…"

Then the screen changed. In the space before them, rippling the stars, a Klingon ship was decloaking.

"Is it just me, or does that ship look a whole lot meaner than a D-7?" Shrann asked.

"Hail them, Lieutenant!" Potter snapped.

"Hailing frequencies open, sir!"

"This is Captain James T. Potter of the Federation Starship _Enterprise_. You _were _aware of the ongoing peace talks at Camp Khitomer, to say nothing of the rescue operations on Qo'noS?"

The screen changed to show the bridge of the upgraded Klingon ship. "What is this? Where is Kirk?" The Klingon commander demanded.

"Lost in Yellowstone Park," Potter replied. His reply was a tirade of Klingon profanities. While the commander was busy swearing, Potter glanced at Serok. "Any sign of that other ship?"

Serok shook his head.

"Klingon commander," Potter asked, "What is the meaning of this attack? Surely you are familiar with Chancellor Azetbur's…"

"That FEMALE petaQ?" The Klingon spat. "Women do not serve on the council! She speaks the lies of a taHqeq!"

Captain Potter then remembered a play from his days of Quidditch. The commander was distracting him, keeping him engaged in useless banter, while a Beater would be flying up behind him to try and take his head off. "Legillimens," Potter whispered, and it came to him. Slowly, as they were not in person, but it worked. Barely.

"Auxiliary power to aft shields! Evasive – starboard! Aft phasers, fire at will, pattern Theta!" Potter barked, breaking into a sweat as he struggled to maintain limited contact with the Klingon's mind.

It was a cesspool.

What the hell was 'Gagh'?

The _Enterprise_ rocked suddenly, and the sounds of an explosion filled her.

"Klingon battle cruiser off the starboard bow!" Serok reported.

"That's _not_ a D-7, sir!" Tauros observed, as the aft phasers lit up the outline of a ship that had just decloaked.

"Found the other one, sir!" Shrann reported.

Was he joking?

"Heavy damage to their forward shields and outer hull, as their cloak dropped," Serok reported, as the bridge fans kicked on to vent the smoke from overloaded circuits. "Engineering reports our aft shields down 50%!"

"Scott ter bridge! There's some minor buckling on the port nacelle pylon. Another hit like that, an' we'll lose the aft shields!"

"Return fire! Fire torpedoes, full spread! Guess he's not in the mood to talk?" Potter ordered.

And the Klingon commander was not. From his limited contact, Captain Potter deduced that this fellow had ambitions of his own. "How very Slytherin," he mused, having briefly seen the vision of his opponent overthrowing the Chancellor of the Empire and taking the throne for himself. It was a very old story.

Behind the Enterprise, the second ship's shields failed as Enterprise rocked.

"Port shields down 20%!" Shrann reported.

"Phasers!" Potter ordered, "Target the lead ship! Concentrate fire on their warp core!" He closed his eyes, "Protego," He whispered, as the _Enterprise_ rocked again.

"Aft shields failing!" Serok reported.

"Evasive pattern Omega," Potter ordered, and the Enterprise veered, rocking side to side, as below in Engineering, Mr. Scott struggled to hold structural integrity on the nacelles. To his left, a console exploded.

"Right then, tha's it," He pulled his wand, "REPARO! Och, I've got NO time fer this! MacMillan!" He shouted.

"Sir?" A young ensign replied.

"Get your Hufflepuffin' arse up in that nacelle! Burn up yer wand if'n yeh must! Hold her in place!" Again the ship rocked, smoked filled the air. "They're trying to blow 'em off, lad! SCOTT TER BRIDGE! We're ventin' drive plasma!"

As the Enterprise spiraled, firing as she went, sparkling plasma mixed with exhaust as the port nacelle ruptured.

On the bridge, augmented phasers with magic lashed out again at Potter's order.

"Come about! Phasers, target close-aft! Release all plasma from the port nacelle, and fire!" Potter ordered.

As the twin beams lashed out again, the cloud of warp plasma ignited, engulfing the pursuing Klingon vessel.

"The pursuing vessel's shields have failed!" Serok reported, "Our shields are down to 45%, aft shields _are_ gone! A plasma manifold has ruptured on E-deck, repair crews en route. Sick bay reports heavy casualties in the secondary hull!"

Again, the ship rocked.

"Hull breach, D-deck!" Shrann announced. "Emergency force fields in place!"

"I have had _enough_ of him," Potter snarled, slamming his hand on his chair. "Come about and face him! REDUCTO!" He shouted.

"Sir?" Everyone asked, confused.

The pursuing Klingon vessel exploded.

"One enemy target destroyed," Serok reported. "Sir…?"

"I'll explain later! DAMAGE REPORT?" Potter demanded, as the _Enterprise_ righted herself and came face to face with the lead Klingon vessel again.

"Port nacelle heavily damaged. Engineering reports warp drive severely limited, best speed of warp 4. Impulse engines at 50%, aft shields are down. Forward shields at 35%. Plasma leak on E-deck, contained, and hull breach on E and D-decks sealed with force fields. Doctor Pomfrey reports 128 injured, 32 critically – one dead."

The bridge went quiet as the Klingon ship went to warp.

"Where's he going?" Shrann wondered.

"Setting a trap, a feint," Potter deduced. "Serok, who was it? Who was killed?"

"Ensign Ernest MacMillan," Serok reported. "I believe he attended the same boyhood school as you, sir? My condolences."

"We'll grieve later, Serok," Potter sighed. "It could have been much worse. Do we still have transporters?"

"Transporters should be repaired within the hour, sir," Serok reported.

_Good, because I really don't want to Apparate the survivors,_ Potter thought. Orbital Apparating, he knew, was draining on one's magic and led to serious migraines. Apparating at warp speed hadn't even been tried yet, mainly because no one was able to mentally calculate his position to reemerge at something like five times the speed of light.

"Sick bay to bridge! JIM! Are you done getting us shot at yet?" Diana Pomfrey demanded. "This is worse than that last game with Gryffin-…"

"For now, Di," Potter replied, unable to suppress a shudder at the thought of their last championship Quidditch match during his Seventh Year. It had been a long and bloody game, with a record number of penalty shots – and injuries.

"I don't like to lose," Potter mumbled to himself. Then he stood up, and his wand slid out of hiding and into his hand. "Full scans of the Klingon debris field, see if there's anything useful left, like memory disks. Serok, take the conn. Continual sensor sweeps, I want to know if our friend comes back. In the meantime, park us over top of the planet's magnetic north pole; it'll help hide the ship. And as soon as those transporters come online, beam those survivors up! I'll be in engineering conferring with Mr. Scott."

"Aye, sir," Serok replied, taking the center seat and examining the right arm. _This hole serves no purpose, _he thought.

As Captain James T. Potter strode through the corridors of his wounded ship, he cast Charms here and there, repairing damage that the computer and crewman had failed to notice. Part of his mind was roaming the cold void of space as well, with Legillimency, looking for the diseased mind of his opponent. There was something other than conquest of the Klingon Empire that he had been hiding. Something more. Something huge.

Potter had felt it.

But what it?  
And did those people actually _eat_ LIVE raw serpent worms?

He arrived to find Engineering in a sort of semi-organized chaos. Mr. Scott was snapping orders, and liberally applying Stinging Hexes to the backsides of slow-moving crewmen. Potter smiled. "Holding her together, Scotty?" He asked.

Scott jumped, an alarm began to sound.

"Bloody hell! Me Charms'r'tha _only_ things holdin' me poor port nacelle on!" Scotty informed him. "Wish we'd brought Gideon along now." He sighed. "MacMillan…"

"Was a Hufflepuff to the bone," Potter replied through clenched teeth. "He gave his life for this ship. An I will _make_ that bastard _pay_ for killing him!"

"Yer Slytherin's'a'showin'," Scotty reminded him.

"Something's not right, Scotty," Potter took him aside, "_Enterprise_ should have cut that D-7's shields to ribbons the first time the phasers/Reductor hit it!"

"Any luck with the Legillimency?" Scott asked.

"Some," Potter answered, "There's more to it than just taking out Azetbur in a coup d'etat. He's hiding something huge, and I have the feeling it has something to do with Earth."

"Does the stupid git not realize that his homeworld's on the verge of environmental collapse, an' lookin' at a nuclear winter type scenario from the explosion of Praxis?" Scott asked.

"Apparently not," Potter replied.

Then his eyes went wide. He pushed up his glasses. "He's mad! _Barking_ mad! You can't move ten billion people in forty-nine years! That's what he's up to!" Potter exclaimed, "His forces, and who knows how many of them there are, are setting up an invasion of the Federation! They'll try and evacuate the planet, rather than accept outside help!"

"Or die trying? It _is_ the Klingon way," Scott sighed. "So what'r'yeh gonna do? Stay and get those people up here, or run as best we can and get outta jammin' range to warn the Chancellor?"

"Bridge to Captain," the intercom called.

"Potter here."

"Transporters are online, and the outpost staff are being beamed up. Transporter Two has suffered extensive damage, however. Estimated time to evacuation is one-point-three hours," Serok reported.

"Very good, Commander, keep me informed. Potter out."

"Yeh really think they'll try ter invade?" Scott asked.

Potter nodded. "A lot of Klingons don't like the idea of a female leader, and her father, Gorkon, wasn't that popular with the High Council for his idealism. Klingons aren't suited to live a peaceful galaxy. They're designed by nature to make war, to conquer. But where are our friends getting their supplies and resources? Qo'noS is devastated!"

Then something else seemed to come to him.

"He's gone. He's moving on," Potter said, "I can't sense him anymore."

"I was always rubbish at Legillimency," Scott admitted.

"So was my great-great-something grandfather," Potter smiled. "I'll be in my quarters. Any chance we can get that nacelle back online?"

"Maybe," Scott wondered, "But with MacMillan gone…I'll see what I can do. If the coils are still not too badly off, I might able to Charm the beasties back to life."

"Keep me informed," Potter took his leave, "I'll be in my quarters composing a letter to Ernie's family."

Try as he might, James T. Potter could not concentrate on his letter to Ernie's family. It had been a running joke in Slytherin House, during the Wizarding War with unfortunately-named the Dark Lord Redux (who had wanted to try and assume the role of Voldemort), that the Hufflepuffs made good canon fodder. Suddenly, though, it wasn't funny anymore.

There was something, though – some niggling doubt at the back of Potter's mind. He couldn't just blame it on contact with that diseased Klingon mind. There was more to it. He knew it, as he kept going over it.

Peace talks with the legitimate Klingon government were going well. There was commerce across the Neutral Zone, and plans were in place to repair Qo'noS's atmosphere and clean up the Saturn-like rings of moon debris that now orbited it.

Then, an attack on outposts here, with two ships involved.

"A potential D-9," Potter had labeled it, the larger and meaner Klingon ship that had so badly damaged his _Enterprise_. And he was already coming to think of her as his. Magical blood had been spilled upon her, and that counted for something.

That _had _to be avenged.

He put down the data padd where he was failing to compose his letter and picked up his wand. Had it not been for magic, he knew, they'd not be there right now. The weapons of the new D-9 were devastating. And the cloaked D-7 was out there somewhere, on a heading along more of the outpost worlds. He ran over it in his mind. He wished he didn't have be so close to cast the Revello Hex. He wished he didn't have rely on magical relay circuits to channel his magic.

But even a Wizard couldn't survive the vacuum of space.

The doorbell chimed.

"Come!"

"Fancy a drink, Captain?" Diana Pomfrey asked him. "The survivors are all aboard, and it's nothing my staff can't handle." Potter noted that she was carrying a bottle. He got up and conjured two glasses so that she could pour.

"To Ernie," James toasted him. "May he take the train … on."

It had been a long-standing toast in the Potter family. No one was really sure what it meant, but it had originated with the original Harry James Potter – the Boy Who Lived. The boy who'd saved the world, far too soon before he was ready to become a man.

"Ernie," Diana agreed, and they drank.

"Ewwwww, what _is_ this stuff? Aldebaran Dumbledore's laundry rinse water?" Potter choked.

"Just something that Hagrid V brewed up before we shipped out," Diana laughed.

And so did the Captain.

"What is it about Hogwarts and repetitive names?" Potter wondered. "I want to marry an alien and give our children strange names," he announced.

"Jim," Diana touched his hand. "We've lost comrades in arms before."

Potter nodded. Even though they were Starfleet, it was only natural to use each other's names. Even though being a Slytherin had made him accustomed to being addressed as "Potter".

"Someone is supplying the rouge Klingon forces," Potter started thinking again. "Someone with something to gain by undermining the peace treaty."

"And who would stand to lose if we had peace in the Alpha Quadrant with the Klingons?" Diana asked, her Ravenclaw nature coming to the surface. "Who would they fight, if not us? Who does that leave?"

"Romulans!" Potter jumped up, spilling his drink. "We've not heard a peep out of them since Nanclus was executed for espionage by his government for his role in the murder of Gorkon and the attempted framing of Kirk and McCoy! If we ally with the Klingons, that leaves only the Romulans with two very unfriendly neighbors staring at them!" He began pacing. "That D-9, the new cruiser that tore us up so badly, looked a touch Romulan to me, I wonder? Sort of green, feathery paint pattern? Different nacelles?"

"And it's still out there?" Diana asked.

Potter nodded.

"But not for long! I'm going after that bastard, if I have to get out and strap antique Firebolt broomsticks to that nacelle! SCOTTY!" He barked at the communications panel.

"Scott here, an' **NO**, yeh _can't _have warp nine yet!"

"Mr. Scott, that Klingon cruiser is headed back along a generally Earth-bound path. I have a feeling there's something following it." He paused. "Something…Romulan!"

"I'm on it," Scott sighed. "Scott out!"

"Captain to bridge."

"Serok here."

"Mr. Serok, lay in a course back the way we came, best possible warp speed. Mr. Scott is busy, so consult with assistant Chief Kneazle, or whatever his name is – that Felinoid bloke what makes me sneeze."

"Chief K'norzell," Serok sounded like he was groaning, but Vulcans didn't groan, did they?

"Yes, and have Tauros lay in a course for Earth. Keep Mr. Shrann on those weapons systems, just in case. Have Lieutenant Miyagi keep trying to break that jamming. I have a feeling we're going to have company."

"Sir, if I may?"

"It was bait, Serok! They used this attack on soon-to-be-meaningless outposts to provoke us into sending the closest starship, leaving Earth fairly undefended. With all our ships making runs to other member planets for the Klingon relief effort, this was the perfect time for our other neighbors to strike!"

"A brilliant display of logic, Captain," Serok agreed, "However, this is one problem – we have no proof of this Romulan plot."

"We'll have it, just as soon as we catch that Klingon bastard and give him the bill for all the bodywork that this ship is in need of!" Potter replied.

"Bill? Ah, yes, a joke. I get it," Serok answered. "Laying in your course now, sir. Chief K'norzell reports that he can give us warp six."

"Engage," Potter snapped, taking another drink. "Ewwwww, I hate this stuff!"

"More?" Diana asked.

"Please," Potter replied. "To Hagrid! All five of them!" He toasted, a manic glint coming to his eyes.

_Enterprise _hurtled through space at warp speed, leaving only a very thin stream of plasma trails in her wake. The port nacelle was still badly damaged, despite Scotty's best efforts, with half of her warp coils fused and inoperative. Potter and Pomfrey had given their best efforts as well, but the Captain and the Healer were tiring with so much magical exertion. Between the wounded ship and the wounded crew, neither was sure how much more they had to give.

"He's out there," Captain Potter mused from the center seat. "But where?" His mind roamed out ahead, the speed of magical thought far outstripping that of his racing ship.

"Captain, if I may?" Serok offered, and Potter nodded. "You are making a great deal of 'mental noise'. If I did not know better, I would think that you were a Vulcan teen struggling for mental discipline?"

_Shite, he can hear that?_ Potter thought._ If you didn't know better, would you think that I was a Wizard, then?_

"We were baited, and we took it," Potter grumbled. "Now there's a ship, perhaps a small fleet of them, under cloak and heading towards Earth."

Serok moved nearer the center seat, hands behind his back. "Sir, Chancellor Azetbur has been notified, in fact, as soon as we cleared jamming range. She is sending a task force, however, they are at least a day away. I believe that the general Klingon populous wants this peace as much as we do."

"But it _is_ just like the Romulans, you have to admit," Shrann added. "Sir, there's a fluctuation in phaser power transfer. Conduits to the forward array took some damage in that last volley."

"Steady as she goes, Helm." He then turned back to Serok. "He's out there, and I intend to find him!"

"SIR! You may not have to wait!" Tauros spoke up.

"Incoming transmission, sir!" Miyagi piped up, "Audio only."

"On speakers!"

"I see you, Potter, limping along there. How was it you got to the Neutral Zone so fast, now that you're moving so slow?" A Klingon voice taunted him.

"Bad mistake!" James Potter breathed, and Serok flinched. "Close channel!"

"Sir?"

"Helm, come about to course one-four-six-mark two. Ready aft phasers, maintain speed. When we pass him by, we'll open fire," Potter ordered.

"Sir, what are we firing at?" Serok asked.

Potter got up, and Serok followed him to the science station. He was grasping at straws. He turned the sensors to maximum gain. "Here," he pointed at the screen. "That last Bird of Prey, the prototype that nearly destroyed _Enterprise_ under Kirk's command, emitted a neutron radiation surge just before it fired. This area, right here, see that spike in neutrons? The thermal gradient rising?"

"Sir, a .02 anomaly in the thermal gradient of space is hardly…"

"In range, sir!"

"FIRE!" Potter snapped.

Twin beams of energy lashed out from Enterprise's tail, striking at nothing, until their ends revealed the shape of…

"Klingon warship decloaking off the starboard aft!" Shrann called out.

"Shields!" Potter ordered, "Continue firing before he can get his systems switched to weapons from cloaking! Aft torpedoes, FIRE!"

There were a series of explosions all along the neck of the Klingon cruiser, and when the smoke cleared, her forward head was bent – her long neck broken.

"Z-minus five-thousand! Hard to port, and roll her, Mr. Tauros!" the captain called, as overhead, a few circuits shorted out. Unconsciously, Potter pulled his wand. _If I have to, I'll bludgeon him to death with it!_

"Targeting engine core," Tauros said, "Firing!"

The _Enterprise_ dived and rolled, exposing her belly and hiding her badly damaged nacelle. The Klingon ship fired, but _Enterprise's_ more nimble impulse drive, combined with the inertia of the roll at near light-speed, carried her beyond the disruptor blasts.

Then the Klingon ship exploded, it's wreckage bouncing off of _Enterprise's _shields.

"About that .02 deviation, Serok?" Potter asked.

"Captain, _that_ is illogical. It is not physically possible to show that a…"

"It's magic, Serok, just accept it," Potter smiled at him.

"And it that a wand in your pocket, sir?" Serok asked.

Lieutenant Miyagi nearly fell out of her chair laughing.

"Captain!" Serok almost sounded excited, "That was not the prototype D-9!"

"You mean that was...?"

"Another D-7, giving off false readings, sir," Serok answered. Potter sighed.

_How many did they send?_ He wondered.

"Scott ter bridge! Are yeh quite done rolling me around down here? The gravity on this deck is down to point-five, an' some of the greener crewmen are jus' that- green!"

For some reason, everyone but Serok found that hilarious.

"I get it," the Vulcan was quick to point out.

"Captain, Chancellor Azetbur on subspace!" Miyagi called.

The screen filled with the image of the Klingon Chancellor. She was, at the very least, a commanding presence in her primal beauty. _Klingon women_? Potter wondered again.

"Captain Potter," she began, "I can assure you and your crew that the Klingon High Council had nothing to do with this unprovoked attack. As Ambassador Spock has pointed out, there is no honor is allowing the innocents to suffer and die. Without Federation aid, the casualties this morning from Qa'parQ Province will be nothing compared to what is to come."

"Ma'am?" Potter wondered.

"There was a meteor shower of Praxis debris. Upwards of two thousand people were killed," Azetbur informed them.

"My condolences, Madame Chancellor," Potter offered, "However, if our theory is correct, you may have a larger problem on your hands." He explained about the Romulan connection.

"It does sound logical," Azetbur agreed, nodding to Mr. Serok. "But if this is indeed true, and a new Klingon cruiser which I know nothing about is headed towards Earth with armed Romulan escort, how can you possibly intercept it?" She asked.

"Right now, we can't," Potter confessed. "Mr. Scott informs me that despite his miraculous work in Engineering, there's no way we can maintain warp six or higher for any amount of time."

The screen the split to show Azetbur and Admiral Archer. "We've contacted every ship we've got that's in possible range of Earth, but it looks like they're not going to get here in time. The Vulcans are coming, as well as the Andorians, but I'm afraid they're still too far away."

"Perhaps not," Serok cut in, "If I may?" Archer nodded at him. "Due to Mr. Scott's mysterious methods of propelling this ship, we were able to cover this distance in just over a day. However, the Klingon and Romulan ships will have to expend power to cover their cloaking devices. They cannot attain the ridiculous warp speeds that Enterprise is capable of, when she is in a proper state of repair. It is logical to assume that they are also larger, heavier armed, and therefore – slower. I would estimate that if Mr. Scott can get us to warp seven, and hold it for the needed amount of time, that we would be able to intercept them. This will also give the Vulcans and others time to arrive to assist us," Serok concluded.

"There's just one flaw with that plan," Azetbur reminded him, "By the time your ship arrives, it will be low on power, it's engines spent, and hopelessly outnumbered. You will not last long in a firefight."

"I know," Potter replied dismally, "But we'll think of something!"

Gideon Weasley was just getting ready to take questions about his career as a Starfleet officer from excited Hogwarts students when his communicator beeped. This, of course, only added to the star-hysteria that had infected the school upon the arrival of a celebrated alumnus. But while normal Muggle technology would not work inside a magical field, anything that used dilithium or rubindium crystals to function would. This was because these crystals, which extended into subspace, were in fact, magical in a way. And while the Muggles didn't know it, magic was what was driving most of their space technology.

"Weasley here!" Gideon told the communicator. The Great Hall of Hogwarts was dead quiet.

"Commander, this is Captain James T. Potter of the starship _**Enterprise**_," his voice filled the Hall.

The children cheered wildly.

(Potter glanced at Serok. "The kids love that bit," he said.)

"Say it, say it mate," Gideon told his cousin, once they'd settled back down.

"Of the House of **Slytherin**," Potter added.

The Slytherin students were on their feet, screaming.

"Listen, Gideon, we've got a problem," Potter explained, once Gideon had gone out in the corridor to take the call. He explained it fast.

"But bloody hell, mate! The only ship we can deploy is the _USS Glasgow_, and she's not even warp capable yet. They won't have torpedoes 'til Tuesday!"

"You're not taking the _Glasgow_, Gideon," Potter informed him. "I need you to take every student who can cast a Reductor Curse, Blasting Hex, anything at all destructive, and contact the Ministry of Magic for connections to our Starfleet operatives. You're also going to have to find someone to pull off a large-scale Bubblehead Charm. After that, you all are going to beam up to the _Enterprise_ and take her to a station-keeping position between Earth and us."

"WHAT?! What the bloody hell for?" Gideon squeaked. "And I can't beam out to you! You're like a be-zillion light years from here!"

"The Romulans have been helping a renegade Klingon faction, and they've developed a new D-9 Cruiser carrying enough armament to crush a planet. It took out our shields in two shots, Gideon. And it's en route to Earth, possibly with other cloaked ships. Our port nacelle's badly damaged, and we can only make warp seven – even _with_ magic driving us. We're in pursuit, but so far, I can't locate them. And you're not beaming up to MY ship, Gideon. You're taking the _Enterprise NX-01_ from the spacedock museum."

Gideon's jaw dropped.

"_That _rustbucket?" He exclaimed. "If you hit warp three in that thing, it'll spit its engine core all the way to Vulcan!"

"You don't have to take her to warp. Here's what you have to do," Potter informed him. He was halfway done explaining it when Gideon agreed and took his leave of the students. After conferring with the Headmaster, Gideon asked for volunteers of those of age. He tried to explain it without frightening them, but it looked like his leave was over. As he stepped out into the corridor and called for a beam-up, he felt a tug at his sleeve as the world dissolved into a myriad of blue light.

He had just enough time to see the sincere little face of Edward Creevey VII, First Year Gryffindor, holding onto his sleeve.


	2. Chapter 2-The Battle

Potter-Trek

**Episode 1: First Command**

**Spacedock, Earth**

**United Federation of Planets, Sector 001**

**2293 AD, old calendar**

**Stardate 9800.5 – Late 23****rd**** Century**

**Shortly after the events of ****Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country**

*  
**Act II**

What the bloody hell are _you_ doing here?" Gideon Weasley demanded, as the bridge of the old _Enterprise _NX-01 materialized around them.

"Wh-where _are_ we?" Edward Creevey asked, astounded.

"Congratulations, kid, you made it into space before any of them," an older Ravenclaw told him.

"Sit over there at the auxiliary ops station, and don't touch _anything_," Gideon ordered him. "Merlin, they'll bust me all way back to crewman for this! Kidnapping! Across planetary lines, even!" He flicked his wand. The lights came up. The students all stared at him as if he were totally daft.

"I was coming out of the loo and there you were!" Edward protested. "It's not _my_ fault you beamed me up!"

"Right then, fine. Just be quiet!" Gideon told the bubbling boy. "I'm headed down to engineering to see if I can wake up the impulse drive. The rest of you, those that have had training or studied Starfleet in Astronomy class, transfigure your robes into cadet uniforms." He called up an image on the computer for them to copy. "Wait here for the rest of the crew to show up. DO NOT let on with the magic, all right? First rule for magical Starfleet officers – don't let the Muggles find out! Now, those that don't know a thing about starships, come with me."

That was most of them.

"Sir?" Edward piped up, "_I _know about starships!"

Gideon thought about sending him back to Hogwarts, checked the time, then grabbed him by the robe and hauled him along.

"But you told me to sit!" Edward protested. "I can run OP's!"

The impulse drive came back online in minutes, and old ship began to power up. The _Enterprise_ NX-01 had been severely damaged near the end of her very first mission, and it had taken over a year of refitting to make her fully habitable and safe again for tourism after she'd been decommissioned. As she had been the first Warp-5 ship ever made, there was still something special about her that evoked a thrill of the imagination when Humankind had been new to the idea of space exploration outside of their own solar system.

Still, Gideon Weasley was not impressed as the skeleton crew assigned by Admiral Archer began arriving and most of the Hogwarts students hid in the main cargo bay.

"Sir, you'll be taking command, I assume?" A lieutenant asked him.

Gideon nodded. "Anyone here who knows a bloody thing about engineering?" He asked.

"Sir," another lieutenant responded, a Tellarite, it seemed. Gideon knew the proper response for civil conversation with the Porcine race. "Fine, I'll turn you into a side of bacon later, Miss Piggy," he offered, as Tellarites loved to trade insults – the fouler, the better, and preferably racially based.

"You do know the difference between warp and impulse engines, don't you, Fingery-Human?" She replied, laughing, holding up a hooflike hand. "Shall I bite off those extra ones? I like you, Commander!" She snorted. Literally.

"Great! Get to it, then, yeh daft oinker. Get all ship's systems on line and functioning. Cut life support to any unoccupied deck, except the cargo bay. We'll be needing that. We're not supposed to need warp drive either, but see if you can get the warp core online without blowing us all to the next solar system, right then? Maybe we can use the warp power for weapons."

"Sir!" Gideon's makeshift crew all replied. The Tellarite snorted in mirth at the insult.

When he arrived back on the bridge, Gideon was surprised to see Admiral Archer's face on the screen.

"Weasley, are you sure that this plan of Potter's is going to work?" Archer demanded.

"No, sir. It's completely mental if you ask me!" Gideon replied, "But it was this or the _Daedalus_, and I really don't want to be seen flying that overgrown toilet float!"

Archer sighed.

Gideon went on. "But, the thing is, sir, once this mystery ship that James is chasing hits the Oort Cloud, it'll have to drop out of warp. Otherwise, it'll scatter comets and dust all over and reveal itself, but I think it has to do that anyway. You just can't get through that thing without moving rocks and ice, and they surely aren't dumb enough to try the main lanes. If it's new, it might not be balanced to go to warp inside a solar system, either. That gives us a bit more time to prepare," Gideon explained.

"Does he honestly think that the weapons array of an NX-class ship can have any hope in hell of standing up to a new Klingon design? Much less the Romulans who may be following it?" Archer asked, perplexed.

"We're just gonna work a little magic, sir, and hope for the best," Gideon replied. "The _Glasgow_ just isn't ready."

"Very well, then, I don't want to know! Get underway, and keep us posted. We'll get all the orbiting defenses online, and the Mars Defense Perimeter, too. Azetbur advises that her task force will be here within the day as well. Hold them until then. Archer out!"

The screen snapped off.

"Engineering, report!" Gideon called, taking the center seat for the first time in his life. _Of a museum ship,_ he cringed inwardly. Still, there was something about taking command of the first _Enterprise_. _Seeing as how it's the only one capable of more than half-impulse._

"Impulse drive ready, weapons charging at 20%, climbing. Life support stable. It looks like the old lady's ready to fly again, sir," someone that Gideon didn't know told him. A senior cadet._ Merlin, Archer's sent me children,_ Gideon fretted, _I'm using Hogwarts children as weapons, too! What the bloody hell is this with leaving Earth undefended? When are they going to learn?_

"Clear all moorings, disengage umbilical, and request permission to depart," Gideon ordered. "As soon as we're out, take us to full impulse. Everyone hold onto something," he made sure he was addressing the whole ship. "Take us out, thrusters ahead full," he added.

The ship lurched.

"Someone check the inertial dampers, please," he sighed.

Down below in the cargo bay, the students were watching out the windows.

"We're moving!" Edward Creevey crowed in delight, getting back on his feet.

"Miraculous as _that _is," Jacob Wood snorted.

"Let's hope to Merlin we don't go to warp," someone else commented, "Or we'll be chunky salsa on the back wall!"

They cleared spacedock, veered starboard, and the moon appeared. It was quite a sight to see.

"Any werewolves in this gang?" Linda Cooper of Hufflepuff asked. Fortunately, no one was.

About 35 minutes later, they were passing Jupiter. The students could see it coming, and it grew fast from the size of a point of light to filling the entire window. They marveled at its rings and myriad moons, something that none of them had been able to see, even with the best Hogwarts telescopes, in such detail. Edward was busy taking pictures of it.

"We're gaining speed," Wood pointed out. "Commander Weasley's used it as a slingshot to get us near warp one without engaging the warp engines!"

"Merlin forbid," Linda shivered, "These engines haven't warped in almost a hundred years!"

"All the museum ships are kept functional," Edward informed her, having been bitten by the space bug when he was very small. "I bet the phasers are ready already!"

"_We're _the phasers," Wood reminded him, "And we're here to shoot up a new Klingon warship!"

They were all thrown up against the wall just then, as the NX-01 made its slingshot out of Jupiter's gravity well and very nearly broke into warp.

"I think the inertial dampeners aren't quite right yet," Wood observed.

"Yeah," Edward pondered it. "Oh look! Uranus!" He joked.

"Can we throw him out an airlock?" Linda rolled her eyes.

*

"Report," Gideon asked, as they cleared the orbit of Neptune about four hours later. Much to his dismay, the food slots were nothing compared to those of modern ships and could only synthesize limited items. But at least there was coffee.

"Cruising at .995c, sir, navigational deflector at full," a frightened looking cadet told him from the helm. Weasley figured that their terrifying turn around Jupiter hadn't helped much in the morale area. After all, the helmsman had nearly crashed into the moon Io.

"All systems read fine," another added.

"You _are_ old enough to drive, aren't you?" Gideon joked.

"I graduate next term, sir," The helm cadet answered.

_I hope you do_, Gideon thought, realizing that it was going to take about nine hours to reach the orbit of the dwarf planet Eris and get within sensor range of the Oort Cloud.  
There, they would wait.

"Report," Captain James T. Potter ordered, signing off a padd and sending his Yoeman on her way. He watched her go, pondering whether or not they should revert to the old uniform style. It was very distracting to his efforts at Legillimency, which was hard enough to do in space.

"Cruising at warp seven-point-five, sir," Shrann replied. "Port nacelle is stable, for the moment, plasma venting has been sealed." The ship shivered a bit.

"Mostly stable," Shrann added.

"Engineering reports shields restored to 75%, sir," Tauros added.

"Sensors and navigational deflectors at full," Serok reported. "Nothing to report here."

"Communications ready, sir. All subspace channels clear," Miyagi said.

"Mr. Scott?" Potter asked, hailing his engineer.

"_Aye_, sir? What is it _now_?" The Scottish brogue sounded tired.

"It's going to take the **NX-01** about nine hours to get in position. I know that could be cutting it close, but why don't you get some rest?" Potter asked, "Have a potion or something?"

"No argument, here, sir!" Scott replied. "You there!" He was shouting when the channel closed, "What the _devil_ do yeh think…"

"I don't know how the old man does it," Diana Pomfrey remarked, having come to the bridge to file her report in person.

"Is Ernie…?" Potter began.

"He's safe and sound for when we take him home," Diana assured him, patting his arm.

"Let's hope he's the last one," Potter snorted, staring at the monitor as the stars blurred by in warped streaks. "I know they're out there, but where?" He bit his knuckle. "Miyagi, open a wideband subspace channel."

"Ready, sir."

"Commander Klingon vessel! This is Captain James T. Potter of the starship _Enterprise_. I was most impressed with your overgrown dustbin earlier, and I can't believe the cowardice you show in running from an older, smaller ship like this! I was unaware that the Klingon Empire had ever adopted the ancient-Earth practice of using eunuchs in high positions of power, as the Halkans still do," Potter harassed him, hoping that he was listening. "Maybe your mother was from there?"

At his science station, Serok raised an eyebrow. Shrann choked on his coffee as Taruos pounded him heartily on the back.

Seconds passed.

"Potter, you impress me, you useless piece of _baktaG_!" A Klingon voice sounded from the speakers.

"Go ahead, run you smelly _bIHnuch_! That just gives me more time to provide you with new baby brothers and sisters!" Potter retorted, his mind reaching, ever reaching.

Lieutenant Miyagi blushed.

"Revello, Legillimens," Potter breathed, grinding his teeth.

"It won't work, _Qa'Hom_!" The Klingon commander laughed.

"'Small animal'?" Shrann asked.

"I think he meant 'rat'," Tauros offered.

"As if you could withstand a Klingon woman!" The insults went on.

"Yeah, that's what your _mother _said," Potter replied.

There was laughter on the channel.

"_QI'yaH_!" Potter spat back at him.

Serok almost gasped. It was the foulest Klingon word known. So foul, it defied translation. The closest word in known Standard was the old American English word that famously began with an "f" and ended with a "k", you see, and could be used as almost any form of grammar.

"It won't work, Potter," The Klingon commander retorted, but the anger building up was evident in his voice. James could _almost _touch it, mentally.

"It's only a matter of time before we overtake you, you murdering _HuH_! Even with us crippled, you still can't outrun us without cutting cloaking power." Then he had another idea.

The Klingon closed the channel, but not before James sensed something.

"He was apparently bouncing the signal off a metallic asteroid, sir," Miyagi apologized, "I couldn't trace it."

"You didn't need to, I know where he's going," Potter smiled. His mind had finally touched upon the Klingon. He turned to Diana. "I need you to go to engineering Level One. Have someone show you the main juncture of the port nacelle pylon. Lie about being there to check them out medically, if you have to. Diana, I need the most clever Ravenclaw Permanent Sticky Charm you can come up with!" He turned to Shrann. "Increase speed until things start to shake!"

As the _Enterprise-A_ chased its phantom targets, the _Enterprise NX-01_ reached the Oort Cloud and stopped.

"Set scanners to maximum, we're looking for anything larger than a golf ball moving through that field," Gideon ordered. "If one of those rocks even wiggles, I want to know about it!" He got up and stretched. "Someone take the conn. I have to go to the cargo bay, then I'm stopping by engineering."

He left the bridge, shivering at how rickety the turbolift felt._ Wish I'd bothered to learn Legillimency!_

He arrived in the cargo bay to find most of the students stretched out on the floor asleep. The heat wasn't set high, and Commander Weasley was proud of their stamina and Warming Charms. Someone had conjured pillows and blankets. No one had complained. Yet. He hated to do it, but he roused them and explained their situation and the plan again.

"Commander, do you really think a couple dozen wands are going to be a match for a new style Klingon warship?" Wood asked.

"With James attacking from the _Enterprise-A_, I think so," Gideon tried to sound confident. "The _Farragut_ is on her way, but she's probably not going to make it. Neither are Chancellor Azetbur's forces."

"Is there anything to eat?" Edward asked.

They all just looked at him.

"What?" He asked. "I'm hungry!"

"Emergency rations," Weasley tossed him a pack from a storage locker.

"Brilliant!" the little boy crowed with delight.

"Gryffindors," Jones sighed.

"That's it, Jim, I've done all I can do," Diana reported when she returned to the bridge. "Do I need to get sickbay prepped again?"

James Potter nodded silently.

Diana Pomfrey left the bridge.

"Helm, increase speed gradually to warp eight and then try squeezing a bit more out of her. Mr. Tauros, load two of the gaseous anomaly seeking torpedoes." His mind reached, further and further. Yes, he was close. Getting closer.

The ship shivered a bit as the port nacelle struggled to function at even half power, the entire aft half of it gone dark. It had been nearly twelve hours of chasing, and the captain was tiring from his mental searching and magical propulsion expenditures. They were coming into limited long-range sensor range of the Sol System and Earth.

"Sir, that's all she's got," Shrann reported.

"I do not understand this plan, Captain," Serok complained.

"Never mind," Potter replied. "Raise shields, stand by phasers."

"Torpedoes armed," Tauros reported.

"Wait," Potter breathed, his eyes distant. "Wait…Serok, watch those sensors for anything! Anything at all! Prepare to relay data to Mr. Tauros. Mr. Shrann, hold speed if you can. Lieutenant Miyagi, open a channel."

"Channel open!"

"Klingon Commander! Nice to see you again!" Potter grinned at the screen, just in case he was dumb enough to answer.

He wasn't.

But it didn't matter. Potter could sense his mind. He was eating. Worms. Potter's stomach reeled.

"I can _see_ you, Commander. And I know you can see me!" Potter taunted and bluffed him. "I know you can see that my weapons are charging! And you know what? I'm about to blow you _out_ of the stars! Hominum Revello," he added in a whisper.

It took a second, but the Charm came back.

"Close channel! Lock weapons 134 by 211 by 2! FIRE!" Potter ordered.

Two red torpedoes fired from _Enterprise_, their tails staining the underside of the saucer section red. They looped and dived, seeking their target, looking for the signature of its impulse vents.

"Slow to impulse! **Shields**!" Potter ordered, "Sensors, full mag on viewer!"

Then the torpedoes detonated.

"Sweet holy mother of Merlin!" Potter swore, as the distortion created by the explosion revealed a nightmare.

It was green, it's sloping and oval nacelles glowing brilliantly green. Its nose was huge compared to the secondary hull, and it was painted like a giant bird.

"Romulan Warbird, class unknown, more than twice our mass!" Serok sounded excited. "She's arming disruptors!"

"Evasive port, pattern gamma," Potter ordered, "Present minimal aspect, and guard that port side!" _And a good snake knows when to run! "_All power to starboard shields, warp away!"

There was no sign of the Klingon D-9 cruiser. Potter swore.

_Enterprise_ rolled and dodged, the rainbow of light streaking behind her nacelles, dimmer on the port side.

"She following us, sir!" Serok called out.

And the Romulan Warbird fired.

"I'll bet Mr. Scott's out of bed now!" Shrann shouted.

"All hands, brace for impact!" Potter cried out, as the green light of the disruptor (_Merlin, it's like a Killing Curse_!) came for them. There was only a split-second to react. Statue of Secrecy be damned!

James Potter drew his wand. "**PROTEGO MAXIMA**!" He shouted, holding the holly wand aloft as a flash of white light enveloped the bridge, enveloped the ship.

_Enterprise_ shook. The lights went dim. Somewhere in the twilight of smoke, things were exploding. Fire suppression systems came online, fans ran, and smoke was sucked away and the inertial dampers screamed in fury. The viewscreen flickered, and the stars went from streaks to spots.

They'd fallen out of warp.

"RETURN FIRE!"

And Enterprise did.

"Romulan shields down by 15%," Tauros offered, eyes wide. "I think we took out their cloaking device!"

Again, the Spell – silently this time._ Keep your mind open, and your mouth shut!_ James had learned in his Fifth Year.

The Romulan fired again, and _Enterprise_ reeled from the impact.

Captain Potter went down.

"Medical teams to the bridge!" Serok called, as the helm blew out.

Shrann and Tauros jumped away, grabbing fire extinguishers and pulling up emergency control panels from under their stations.

"Forward shields at 20%!" Shrann shouted.

"Subspace communications gone!" Miyagi cried out.

"Warp drive offline! Transporters out!" Tauros announced. "Gravity on C deck has failed!"

Captain James T. Potter was down.

As Commander Serok bent down to check his pulse, he saw the long, dark stick in his captain's hand. It was smoking from the tip, but undamaged. He placed it carefully inside the captain's tunic, noting the little snake emblem.

"Stabilize!" Serok ordered, "Get me impulse drive, thrusters, anything! Just get us moving! Helm, come about to 180 mark 1! All remaining power to phasers! Target the Romulan weapons array and fire!"

"Scott ter bridge!" The intercom crackled, "That hit destabilized the antimatter injectors! I'll have to reset the magnetic fields or she'll breach!"

"Time?" Serok barked.

"I've _got_ to have two minutes!" Scott exclaimed.

_Enterprise_ fired again, her phasers stopping several kilometers from the massive Romulan nightmarish ship whose shields were holding.

Serok steepled his fingers and thought hard.

"Torepedo status?" He asked.

"Aye, they're online, for now, sir," Shrann reported.

"Load ALL remaining torpedoes, and transfer _all _remaining power – including life support – to phasers," he ordered, as Diana Pomfrey arrived. She fell upon Captain Potter at once.

"What _is _that thing?" She demanded.

"A very large Romulan ship, Doctor," Serok said coolly, as she injected Potter's neck. "Ennervate," She whispered and Potter stirred.

"R-report?" He sounded dazed.

"FIRE!" Serok shouted. "Captain, we are throwing everything but the toilet at them," Serok reported.

"You mean the kitchen sink?" Potter laughed, taking in the damage all around him.

"If you believe that throwing a sink will help, I shall endeavor to find one," Serok agreed, giving the Captain a hand up.

The lights came back up.

"Romulan shields down to 60%!" Shrann reported, "Taking evasive, pattern delta!"

"What did they _hit _us with?" Potter wondered.

"An unknown disruptor configuration," Serok offered.

"Phasers down to 50%!" Tauros said, "Maintaining fire!"

As the phasers lit up again, torpedoes continued to batter the Romulan shields. They sparked and flashed, their mutual fire intersecting and exploding in space. The Romulan dodged and fired again, and Shrann narrowly avoided it.

One of Shrann's console circuits exploded, burning his hand. "Starboard torpedo launcher is gone!" He shouted.

"Scott to bridge! Main power is down to 40%! Main energizer is coming back up, but it's bypassed like a Christmas tree! One more hit like that, and we're spacedust!"

"Route all remaining aux-power and batteries to phasers, continual spreads of port torpedoes," Potter ordered, falling back in his chair and waving Madame Pomfrey off. He patted his chest, found his wand, and gripped it without pulling it.

He made his decision.

He would do a Memory Charm later.

"Target their weapons array with phasers, torpedoes on their nacelles!" Potter ordered. "Serok, don't ask me why. I am leaving the bridge. I have to go to D deck and get a clean shot at that thing." He pulled his wand.

"Magic, Captain?" Serok asked, his eyebrow going up.

"You have to believe," Potter shrugged, "Diana, with me," he ordered her, as they took the Jeffries Tube then Apparated.

The deck was deserted. They could hear explosions as Shrann moved the ship, her shields battered but holding. The air was smoky as the fans struggled to clear it. There was no one on D Deck, and the forward section was sealed with force fields.

"Remember that hull breach?" Potter asked, transfiguring his uniform into an environmental suit. Diana did the same.

They stepped towards the breach, waited for the Romulan to come into view, and took aim. "Everything you can muster, Di," he advised, as the force field opened a small hole.

"REDUCTO!" They both cried, their own anger and fear channeling the magic into and out of the wands. The Curses erupted in brilliant light, streaking towards the Romulan. There was an explosion when they hit in tandem with a torpedo spread.

"Captain, the Romulan shields are failing!" Serok reported on ship wide comm.

"Fire everything we've got left!" Potter ordered, as the Romulan weapons array began to glow deathly green again.

Again, the Witch and Wizard fired, knowing that several decks below, Mr. Scott was working his own magic as well.

This time, their Curses destroyed one disruptor bank. They fired again, and again. From so far away, with a target so large, it was hard to do appreciable damage. The holly wand grew hot in Potter's hand. "They're restoring shields," Potter surmised, as they fired yet again. "Protego!" Potter cast it again, as the Romulan fired.

"Hold together, you lovely," Mr. Scott said from his burning console. "PROTEGO MAXIMA!" He cast the Charm.

The magical shields held.

_Enterprise _shook, her main supports screaming in protest. Potter and Scott both swooned under the impact, but the Romulan wasn't done yet.

Again, she fired on _Enterprise._

"**Port shields are gone**!" Shrann exclaimed, veering away and taking the warp factor one that he could get.

On B-Deck, Madame Pomfrey fired again.

"Damage to our impulse drive!" Tauros added, "She's wallowing!"

"Illogical," Serok wondered, "Romulan weapons appear to be offline again. Cease fire, torpedoes. Hailing frequencies?"

"Communications erratic, no response," Miyagi replied.

"All remaining power to phasers," Serok ordered, as consoles sizzled and popped.

"Phaser control is gone, sir!" Tauros exclaimed. "Ensign Winston reports he can launch a torpedo manually!"

"He'll be burned to a crisp!" Shrann gasped.

"Doctor Pomfrey to torpedo control, NOW!" Serok called. "Mr. Winston, fire at will!"

"What we need is a good Beater about now, and a hell of a Bludger," Potter mused, as they fired their wands again. "Phasers must be down!" Potter slumped against the damaged bulkhead. The forcefield was up, and his suit changed back. The Romulan was now venting drive plasma from one nacelle as well as _Enterprise_ fired a torpedo. Her phasers, however, were silent.

"Now we're about even," Pomfrey commented. "Jim, you're exhausted! I have to go!"

"Did I ever tell you only you could get away with calling me that?" Potter laughed.

"Liar," she grabbed him under his left arm and hoisted him. "Every woman on every alien planet calls you 'Jim'. Let's get out of here. We've still both got work to do!"

Back on the bridge, Captain Potter resumed command. Between weapons and wands, the huge Romulan ship was now as badly damaged as _Enterprise_. The report was not good. Aft shields were gone, main power was at 30%, forward shields were hardly holding, Ensign Winston was in critical condition, phasers were back to only 10%, the impulse drive was damaged, and warp one was all they were going to get – and probably for only a few minutes.

"Let's hope the Klingons don't come back," Potter mused. He flipped open a handheld communicator. "Scotty?"

"Aye, sir! We're just barely holdin' her together! That port nacelle has completely depolarized, and pylon stress is increasing! How in God's name she's hangin' on, I dinno!"

"The Romulan's coming around again," Tauros reported. "She's arming torpedoes!"

"All remaining power to thrusters," Potter ordered, "See that stray asteroid at 152 mark 4?"

"Aye, sir?"

"I want you to swing around, hard. The port nacelle's a lost cause, she'll have to be replaced anyway. We're going to whack that thing and send it at her like a Bludger!" Potter said.

"A what?"

"A form of cricket ball, or a baseball? Tennis anyone?" He backpedaled, as the ship strove toward the rock with the Romulan in pursuit.

Shrann and Tauros smiled at one another. As the Romulan came into range, _Enterprise _hove to the side with a burst of her thrusters, and swung her arse around hard. And it was a very _big_ arse, if Mr. Scott would later say so himself.

"SOUND COLLISION!" Potter barked.

The port nacelle impacted the asteroid hard, sending it flying. The concussion threw everyone to the floor, and the nacelle ripped away, splintering the support pylon.

Mr. Scott was not pleased.

The Romulan tried to fire, but her disruptors were too damaged.

"Minimal tractor beams? Throw the nacelle at them!" Serok suggested.

The rock smashed into the Romulan's nose, shattering the front section of her control center. The port nacelle followed it, exploding in multicolored fireball.

"Their bridge has been destroyed," Serok reported, "Heavy damage to internal space frame, nacelle struts, and … engine core breach in progress!"

"WARP ONE, EVASIVE! All remaining battery power to any shields that'll come up!" Potter barked, "Z minus-**hard**! DIVE!"

Enterprise dived, and the Romulan Warbird exploded.

Debris impacted their nearly-gone shields, but none penetrated. There was a sizzling, and then their shields blew out.

"Shields have failed – for good, sir!" Shrann reported. "Generators destroyed!"

"Scotty, what's left?" Potter asked.

"A big stick," Scott replied cryptically, "And a few shuttlecraft. I might be able ter get yeh half impulse in a half hour, er we can tow her with tha shuttles!"

"Sir," Serok reminded him, "**NX-01** is waiting at the Oort Cloud for us."

Potter froze.

Then he recovered himself. "Serok, take the bridge. I need to go to my quarters, to, erm, meditate for a moment. Dispatch damage control teams as needed." He paused at the Jeffries Tube, as the lifts were offline. "Send out a general distress call when communications are repaired. Miyagi, open a coded channel to the **NX-01**, use the little green button under the small panel to your right. The one with the "S" that resembles a snake on it. Tell them the Phoenix is burning!" James Potter said with a hiss to the words, "Commander Weasley will understand."

Serok raised an eyebrow.

"I never knew this button was here," Miyagi commented. "_Enterprise _calling _Enterprise_," she began.

_Enterprise-A_ limped along at low impulse towards the Sol system, and home. Her one remaining warp nacelle was dim, they were out of torpedoes, and phaser banks were nearly exhausted. They couldn't generate enough power to even rattle the D-9's shields, Potter knew, and his own shields were gone, the generators fused.

There was only one option, he knew, and he didn't want to do it.

He'd need Dark Magic to do it.

But could he resist the temptation? Could he stop when he was done?

Captain James T. Potter didn't know.

"You _didn't_ die in vain, Ernie," he whispered, as he forced the doors to a turbolift and raised his wand. "Engineering!" The lift didn't move, but Potter did; he vanished into a swirl of Apparation.

Engineering was a mess, to put it lightly. Panels were off everywhere, and exposed circuitry that was not already burning was sizzling in overload. The air reeked of smoke and worse.

"Mr. Scott, I need to speak with you," Potter whispered to him. "We have _got _to get this ship to the perimeter of the solar system to intercept the Klingons at any cost. I am getting ready to use Dark Blood Magic."

Scott stared at him.

"Unless you know a way to Apparate the entire ship," Potter added.

"It won't come to that, lad," Scott put his hand on Potter's shoulder, "As a matter of fact, I still have a couple'a'tricks up me sleeve!"

"Explain?" Potter gasped.

"Stardate 5693 or so," Scott explained. "_Enterprise _was caught in a Tholian web. When the ship came back up to full power, suddenly, she was thrown clear. Right _through_ the web. Just POOF! She moved pretty damn far, Laddie," Scott grinned. "You ever wonder jus' _how_ we did that?"

Potter's eyes went wide.

"You _mean_ you can…?"

"Dilithium crystals are a magical element, sir," Scott explained further, "Some of the richest deposits of it were found in Scotland. In fact, the stones that built Hogwarts are infused with it." He pulled his wand with his bandaged hand. "Beech and dragon heartstring," Scott told him, "A hard wand with some _wallop_ behind her! She's fought off Klingons and Romulans and worse before, and she'll do it again!"

"Clear the room," Potter barked, and all activity stopped. They all just stared at him. "I said **clear** the room! Just for a moment."

Everyone went out, mumbling.

"There's no need fer Dark Magic, yet, Laddie," Scotty assured him, as he released the lock to the warp reaction chamber. His wand began to glow. "If I could'a'done this when Khan was attacking us, maybe Mr. Spock wouldn'a been killed," Scott lamented. "Computer, lower the force field!"

Magic took over for technology, and Montgomery Scott stuck his wand into the reaction chamber, right into the heart of the warp core.

Mr. Scott was bleeding.

There was a crushing sensation nothing like Potter had ever felt before. It was not like the normal squeezing of Apparating. It was blackness, perfect and suffocating. There was a sound, a whine, and it was growing louder. Reality had fled away as he felt himself twisting into…somewhere not in normal space/time.

It was like death.

And then they were out of it.

All over the ship, several crewmen vomited, having never been Apparated before!  
Scotty slumped, then passed out. Potter caught him.

The Chief Engineer had done what he himself had been so reluctant to do.

"Medical team to engineering!" Potter snapped, looking around in shock. "DIANA! Get down here _now_!"

What he saw was a miracle.

Panels were still off, but circuitry was no longer sizzling. The warp core was once again its normal brilliant color. The heat was coming back up, and the air was clearing.

"Bridge to Captain!" Serok's voice called on a clear speaker, "Mr. Scott seems to have somehow…magically…brought us back up to full power!" The Vulcan sounded excited. Surely not?

"What happened?" Diana demanded, rushing in with a black bag that was obviously not Starfleet issue.

"He…he stuck his _wand_ into the warp core!" Potter fumbled. "It…he threw us?" He cleared his throat as the engineering staff returned and Diana tended to Scott. "Bridge, position?"

"This is…_impossible_, sir!" Tauros answered, "We're several thousand kilometers outside the Oort Cloud! And…and we're being hailed! SIR! It's the _Enterprise_! NX-01!"

"Sir!" the cadet at the science exclaimed, "Contact with an object! It's a ship, Federation …sir! It's the _Enterprise-A_! It just came out of nowhere!"

"On screen! Hail them!" Commander Weasley snapped.

Everyone gasped as the viewer came on, magnified.

The _Enterprise-A_ was a wreck.

Black burn marks scarred her saucer, the "A" burnt away, along with most of that section. There were hull breaches shimmering with the sparkle of force fields, and long burn marks all down her engineering hull. "Bloody hell!" Gideon swore, taking in the sight of her missing port nacelle and the splintered remnant of the pylon.

The screen changed.

"Good to see you, Commander!" James Potter greeted his cousin. "Traded down, have we?" He smiled.

"There's not much to choose from in the museum," Gideon replied, "And now we know why! Least _my _paint's new!"

"Any sign of the Klingons?" Potter asked.

"None," Gideon replied. "What happened to you lot?"

"A new Romulan design, she was following the Klingons under cloak."

"Well, you know all about _cloaks_," Gideon smiled. "So they're still coming?"

Potter nodded. "Any signs?"

"Not a pebble's moved, mate," Gideon replied. "Can you maneuver with only one nacelle?"

Potter nodded again. "Let's just say it was a lovely game of Quidditch," He raised his eyebrows. "Tauros and Shrann make excellent Beaters! What have you got?" He then turned serious, nodding as Gideon explained.

"Archer's sending robot defense drones behind us, too, but I don't know, James. If they're sharing technology, and they did _that_ to your ship?"

"_My_ ship," Potter thought. "What's _left_ of her. I'm not even sure that Scotty can clean up this mess."

"Captain, reading a disturbance at 270 mark 5!" Serok called out.

"Confirmed, sir," the cadet at sciences agreed. Gideon didn't even know his name.

"RED ALERT!" Potter called, as both ships prepared for battle.

"Raise shields," Gideon ordered.

"Erm, sir? This ship doesn't _have_ shields?" the helmsman reminded him.

"Right then, polarize the hull plating," Gideon groaned. _Merlin, we are so dead!_

"You know what to do?" Potter reminded him.

"Just destroy a new class of Klingon warship, no problems," Gideon pulled a face. And his wand. No one was looking at him. "Protego Maxima!" He whispered. "We've got shields now!"

"That, or hold them until Farragutor Azetbur arrives," Potter agreed.

"Incoming transmission!" Miyagi announced.

It was Klingon laughter. "What is _that_ tired old thing?!"

"What, you don't remember the ship that started all the hostilities with the Empire?" Potter taunted him, wondering if they could really hold him off until help arrived.

Then the Klingon ship decloaked.

"Blimey!" Gideon gasped, "Look at the _size_ of that thing!"

"She's raising shields!" Serok exclaimed.

"Open fire, all weapons!" Potter ordered, the magically recharged phaser banks firing at full power as NX-01 deployed her phase cannons. What the Klingons weren't expecting, or didn't even know existed, were a few magical enhancements.

"Bring us about so he can see our arse!" Gideon ordered, "Weasley to cargo bay, you lot ready?"

"Yes, sir!" Several voices answered, as down below, a huge Bubblehead Charm went up in front of the bay doors as they opened. Several wands took aim at the Klingon ship, and what looked like a plethora of white phaser beams erupted in tandem with their aft phase canons.

"Torpedoes!" Gideon ordered, as _Enterprise-A_ continued to fire phasers and a few Reductor Curses.

The Klingon ship returned fire.

"Sir, they're going for the **NX-01**!" Serok said, "One hit, and that ship will…"

Gideon Weasley collapsed as his Charm exploded in space under the Klingon fire. He got back up, gasping, his face red. All over the **NX-01**, circuits exploded as Klingon disruptors ripped a gaping hole through her saucer section. "Mother of Merlin, tha's a big-arse ship!" He swore.

"No personnel in those sections," the science officer reported.

"Evasive!" Gideon ordered, "Come about, hard! Hit him again, mates!" He ordered the students, collapsing in his command chair and panting.

Once again, a volley of Curses and aft phase cannons launched.

"Klingon shields down to 55%," Serok announced, as _Enterprise-A_ shook with a disruptor hit. "Our shields are back down to 70%, main power is fluctuating."

"Augment with auxiliary," Potter ordered.

"Sir, she's going for the **NX-01** again!" Tauros said, bringing the ship about in a hard turn that made her unbalanced frame whine.

James Potter knew there was no chance of warp speed, not with one nacelle gone and the other in flux. He saw from the tactical display that the drones had arrived, but the Klingons were picking them off one by one.

"**NX-01** targeted!" Tauros cried, as a conduit exploded.

"Forward phasers gone!" Serok reported.

"Prepare for _ramming_ speed!" Potter ordered, "Let's cobb him a good one! Take out his closest nacelle, Shrann! **All hands, evacuate the forward half of the saucer section**! SOUND COLLISION!"

"Aye, sir," The Andorian groaned, as Enterprise righted herself and headed for the D-9 at what remained of her impulse speed.

"PROTEGO!" Two commanders spoke at once on two ships.

Shields came up over the **NX-01** again, a shimmering bubble of magic, which deflected the Klingon fire this time. "HAH!" Gideon shouted.

Then the _Enterprise-A_ slammed into the Klingon starboard nacelle with her saucer.

Explosions rocked the ship as systems blew out all over. Feedback from overloaded conduits took out bulkheads faster than they could close, and force fields went offline. A cloud of plasma erupted from the wounded Klingon ship, sparkling green as her ruined nacelle floated away.

"Target that nacelle and fire!" Gideon ordered, and as they detonated it, shrapnel ripped into the Klingon hull as the support wing broke loose.

"Now we're even," Potter snarled.

On the **NX-01**, tiring students fired more Curses as she turned again. _Enterprise-A_ was turning again, but she was wallowing.

"Damage report!" Potter barked, wand clenched in hand and sweating as he struggled to augment structural integrity –or what remained of it.

"Sections 1 through 8 on _all _decks of the saucer are _gone_," Serok reported. "Klingons have lost warp power, shields, and starboard disruptors, however…"

The ship rocked again.

"Port disruptors are still online!"

"Thank you, I noticed," Potter groaned.

"Sir, is it not a good time to pull a wild hare out of your hat?" Serok asked seriously.

Potter had to laugh. "I think you're right! Engineering, report!"

"Chief K'norzell here, sir. We've got heavy damage all across the board, and Mr. Scott is still down! The warp containment fields are compromised. If we can't stabilize them, we'll have to dump the reactor core, or she'll blow!"

"Brilliant," Potter groaned, "Some first command _this_ is!"

"Damage report!" Gideon ordered on the **NX-01**.

"Impulse power down to 50%, hull plating is gone, sir," the science officer reported, "Main power leveling out at 55%, warp core stable. Phase cannons at 40%, but we do have a dozen old torpedoes left, sir!"

"Then bloody well FIRE them!" Gideon ordered.

The ancient torpedoes, while not as fast, struck home as the Klingon ship veered. Trying to guard his wounded starboard, the commander presented his port with almost no shielding left.

"Direct hit, heavy damage to their main reactor! Warp power is offline, disruptors gone, life support _is_ failing!" the science officer reported, as once again, a volley of Curses erupted from **NX-01**'s cargo bay.

"What's down there? A secret weapon?" A cadet asked.

"You could say that," Gideon nodded. "Hail the _Enterprise-A_!"

When the screen cleared, they saw that the bridge was filled with smoke. Ruptured conduits and cables hung from the ceiling, and a crewman was trying to manually put out a fire near the lift doors.

"You all right, mate?" Gideon asked, astonished at the level of damage.

Captain Potter coughed, then nodded. "Open a channel to the Klingon ship," he told Miyagi.

"Open."

"Klingon commander, this is captain James T. Potter of the starship _Enterprise_. Surrender and prepare to be boarded!"

There was no reply.

"Sir!" Tauros cut in, "Reading an energy buildup in their forward section!"

On the screen, a green glow was forming in the D-9's torpedo launcher.

"They cut off life support and routed it to a torpedo bay!" Serok announced.

"Weapons?" Potter snapped, "Shields?"

"Gone, sir," Serok answered.

Potter checked his command chair. The magical circuitry for wand interface had been destroyed.

The D-9 was turning, slightly.

Towards the **NX-01**.

"GIDEON! **Get outta there**!" Potter shouted, raising his wand to cast a Shield Charm.

"Reading sensor contact with an object, an asteroid mod-5, coming in a 226 mark 1!" Shrann fired their thrusters, "Almost got us!"

"WHAT?!"

And then the asteroid cruised on by them. It struck the Klingon vessel dead center of her forward torpedo bay. The green glow went out in a horrendous explosion.

"You can always throw rocks!" Little Edward Creevey exclaimed, blowing on the tip of his smoking wand as he looked out the cargo bay windows of the **NX-01**. The small boy was dancing on the spot, obviously very pleased with himself.

"Incoming transmission!" Miyagi reported again.

"Prepare to see the shores of _Gre'thoR_, Potter!" The Klingon commander snapped, as from her tail section, six shuttlecraft appeared.

"He's got to be bloody joking!" Gideon groaned.

The shuttles began charging their disruptors, moving ahead, but soon encountered a swarm of rather large asteroids.

"Take that, you Klingon flobberworms!" Creevey's voice filled the comm system.

The shuttlecraft began exploding as the rocks smashed them to bits.

"Good idea, mate!" Potter congratulated him. "Shuttle bay! Man all shuttles and launch! Full attack posture!" He looked at Serok. "He's got no weapons left?" He offered with a grin.

The red alert siren began to blare again, as the shuttles launched, stinging at the wounded Klingon vessel like angry wasps.

"Chief K'norzell to bridge! Warp containment fields are failing!"

Potter turned to the screen, his face ashen. "Gideon, get yourself out of here! We've got to dump the reactor core!"

"Understood," Gideon confirmed grimly, "Helm, hard about. Best impulse!"

"Sir, the Klingon ship is moving, half thrusters only!" Shrann reported.

"ALL DECKS, THIS IS THE CAPTAIN," Potter called on shipwide. "Secure all stations, evacuate engineering, and prepare to eject the warp core! Mr. Shrann, bring us up along the z-axis. Full thrusters! Make for the Klingons. I'm going to give him a little going-away present!"

Serok's eyebrow went up. "Sir, he _is_ defeated?"

"And I plan to make sure he _stays_ that way!" Potter snapped. "Have a nice trip to _Stovokor_, Klingon Commander!" He spat.

The Enterprise-A rose up, energy crackling from the runaway mix of matter and antimatter all along the juncture of her neck and engineering hull. As she rose, she turned in time with the Klingon vessel, the splinter of her port nacelle pointing at them like an accusing finger.

"NOW! Eject the warp core!" Potter ordered, "Get us out of here, best speed!"

Driven by the explosive force, the warp core shot down towards the equally crippled Klingon vessel, right on top of her engineering hull.

"We're not going to make it," Potter thought, "not on limited impulse." He closed his eyes.

The warp core and the D-9 exploded.

"Protego," Potter prayed, hoping that some Deity somewhere was listening as he felt his own Magic failing.

The _Enterprise-A_ shook violently with a terrific KLANG!, then everyone was thrown to the floor as the inertial dampeners struggled to keep up with the sudden unexpected entry into warp space.

"Sir! We've been seized by a grappling arm on the port nacelle stub!" Tauros reported.

"It's the **NX-01**!" Miyagi added, "Commander Weasley on the screen, or what's left of it," she snorted.

The forward viewscreen was cracked down the center, and the man in the center seat of the NX-01 was smiling, holding his wand high.

"Well what do you know, the old girl still had warp drive in her after all!" He laughed. Standing behind him were at least two-dozen Hogwarts students in robes, looking frazzled, but all right. The one just to Gideon's right was very small and waving at the screen.

Serok, for a Vulcan, was looking irritated. "I am _not _going to say it," He said through gritted teeth.

"You mean that an NX-class grappler can't hold onto a Constitution Class ship at warp speeds?" Gideon laughed again, "But you're not all _there_, mate! You're minus a few bits!"

There was a whine, then both ships fell out of warp. The grappler broke.

"Oh well, it was fun while it lasted," Potter shrugged. "Casualties?" He asked.

"Some bumps and scrapes is all," Gideon replied.

"Commander?" The small boy was asking. "It's him! It's really _him!_ It's Captain _Potter_!" He took a picture of his ship's screen.

James Potter blinked. "Is that a…a _Creevey_?" He asked, as Gideon nodded to his operations chief.

"Edward Creevey VII, Gryffindor, sir!" The little boy exclaimed.

Then he shimmered and vanished.

He reappeared right in front of Captain Potter, startled.

"Was that Apparating?" He gasped.

"I wondered if the transporters were still working here," Gideon mused. "Must have built this rust bucket better than we thought, eh?"

Serok's eyebrows both went up.

"Captain!" Edward nearly tackled him.

"As you were, crewman!" Potter ordered him, catching him. He pointed at his chair. "SIT! But don't touch anything," He added.

Edward looked like he might faint, but did as he was told. "Wow, you lot really do have pointy ears!" He observed of Serok.

"Sir, what exactly _is_ a 'Gryffindor"?" Serok asked, clearly perplexed.

"Uh oh," Edward groaned, "Well, we're, erm…_I _threw rocks at 'em!" Edward smiled at him.

"I see!" The Vulcan replied, "Brilliant idea, boy!"

Then the aft Jeffries Tube opened and the captain's Yoeman emerged.

She was dressed in a uniform tunic and short skirt with high black boots.

"I'm sorry sir, I thought we could all use something to drink, and well, I seem to have misplaced my trousers?" She offered, handing out the drinks.

"Imagine that," Potter laughed, raising his glass.

"Absent friends," He offered a toast. "To MacMillan!"

They drank.

"Sickbay to bridge," the intercom crackled, "Mr. Scott has stabilized," Madame Pomfrey reported. Everyone cheered, as on the viewer, a Klingon woman's face appeared.

"Captain, may we offer assistance, and the gratitude of the Empire for defeating these renegades?" Chancellor Azetbur actually smiled. "You seem to have shrunk, Captain?"

"Good to see you, Ma'am," Potter smiled back, moving behind his occupied command chair. Edward squeaked in alarm at seeing Klingons in person.

Then Potter looked down at the small boy in the command chair. He started to get up, but the captain pushed him back down.

In his eyes was something that James Potter knew well – the dream of stars.

"MR. CREEVEY! Take us home," Potter ordered, leaning on the arm of the chair and tousling his hair. He handed him a log padd from the side pocket.

"Wow, this ship's a mess, sir," Edward pointed out.

On the other half of the viewscreen, Gideon Weasley was laughing. "I think I'd better beam over and see if we can salvage your impulse drive, or you'll have all that help," he nodded at Edward, "for a week!"

"Helm," Little Edward Creevey then said in his deepest voice, sitting up tall in the command chair, "Best speed back to Earth! Viewer ahead! ENGAGE!"

No one had the heart to tell him that Chancellor Azetbur's ship was pulling them along from the starboard side where the starstruck boy couldn't see her!

END


End file.
